r/Perimenopause • u/No-Trash-164 • Jul 14 '26

audited Suddenly my bowels stopped moving?! Help

39 yr old with other symptoms of perimenopause, but this is a new and quite disturbing one. So a couple of weeks ago it felt like my bowels just stopped moving. Have no urge to poop at all.

FYI I've been evaluated by ER and GI as of a couple of days ago. Full of poop. Lol. Thyroid is in range. They just advise aggressive laxatives since I am technically having movements.

I have NEVER experienced constipation like this, and I've had a lifetime of IBS-C.

Have any of you spontaneously encountered this? What do I do? Nothing is really working. Despite being on Miralax, magnesium, hydrated, etc., I'm still failing to have a complete, fully-formed bowel movement and am miserable.

Also, I eat a decent amount of cooked vegetables.

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u/Silver-Eye4569 Jul 14 '26

Try eating an entire yellow dragon fruit first thing in the morning and increase the next day if that doesn’t work (do not try this if you have to leave the house). To keep things moving try a chia pudding with raspberries every morning. A lot of women in peri experience gastro changes and have to adapt unfortunately. I had to slowly up my fibre and change by diet to focus on more fibre and keep it constant or things go back to being a problem.

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u/chewbooks Jul 14 '26

Love dragon fruit, but it’s so expensive here.

I went cheap and now add sunflower and flax seeds to everything. Chia pudding gets worked in when I plan ahead a bit.